Malvertising: How Piracy Sites Use Malicious Ads to Infect Consumer Devices With Malware

Piracy sites have a long history of illegally distributing a variety of copyright-protected content, including movies, television, music, books, photos, games, and software. These criminal actions have not only significantly harmed content creators like authors and developers, but they have also cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of American jobs. But consumers who visit these piracy sites also face substantial risks because a significant portion of these sites use malicious ads to infect consumer devices with malware. These malicious ads are found on some of the most popular piracy sites and present a serious cybersecurity risk to consumers whose devices may become infected with ransomware or spyware.

Watch ITIF's panel discussion about the threat that malware in ads on piracy sites poses to consumers, the implications of these malicious ads for cybersecurity, and how the public and private sectors can address this issue. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Co-Chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, will provide keynote remarks.